Hey everyone, most of you have probably seen our latest R&D project when it was unveiled at SEMA in Warn Industries’ booth. We purchased the car to collaborate with Warn on their latest product, a Semi-Hidden Winch mount for the 2018 and newer Crosstreks but we kept it under wraps until the show so I wanted to go over the build details. Our initial plan was to have this car stand out enough to be noticed but keeping everything functional and transform it into an off-road machine. We installed our 2” Steel Top Hat Spacer lift kit, 1” Raised RalliTEK springs, Engine Skid Plate and Transmission Skid Plate, and our Ditch Light Brackets that were originally developed for the 2015-2018 Outbacks. Accessories from other vendors are Method MR701 wheels, 235/75-15 Kumho RoadVenture MT51 tires, Curt Roof Basket, TorkLift EcoHitch and VisionX LED lights for various places on the car. We are very proud of the final product and love every aspect of the car, here are some pictures of it on the trail where it is most at home:

When it was a fresh build, so clean!We tried to drive on this stump to try the rock sliders out, ended up getting stuck and needed to winchA little 3 wheel motion, the WARN AXON 55-S pulls this car around with easeSitting on the rock sliders, they worked perfectly!On a photoshoot for Trails Magazine, looking good in the sand!This Crosstrek does great in the snow too!

Thank you for reading, if you have any questions about this car or would like to know anything about it, we would love to hear from you! Give us a call, 503-619-0055, or shoot us an email to support@rallitek.com!

Hey everyone, Scott from RalliTEK here with another blog about enhancing your off road experience while in your Subaru. I wanted to talk about one of the easiest ways to increase off road traction and that is “airing down” before you hit the trail. Letting some air out of your tires before a trail day increases traction by allowing the tire to be softer so it can grip obstacles better and it also allows for a nice comfortable ride as well. Most Subarus run tire pressures between 30 and 40psi and while this is great for on road handling and fuel economy, this makes the tire stiff and unable to conform to the terrain as well which can lead to lots of spinning and sliding. While airing down before a trail day, it isn’t uncommon for others in the group to ask what everyone will be running for tire pressure and in our RalliTEK Subarus, I typically will air down to about 18psi or so for a general trail day. The pressure that you will choose will depend on a few things, the weight of your car, the size of your tire and wheel and the terrain you will be in. The RalliTEK Outback has 245/65-17 tires and because it is pretty heavy, I felt that 18psi was the lowest I would go for the trails in the Tillamook State Forest, the tires performed great but there were a few times I felt the sidewall try to roll under and I wanted a little more support on some of the bumps so I didn’t risk damaging a wheel. The RalliTEK Crosstrek on the other hand is on 235/75-15 tires so it has more sidewall and is also lighter, 18psi was a great pressure and one could probably go down to 15psi if needed.

18psi, let’s hit the trails!

To air my tires down, I use an ARB E-Z Deflator that I’ve had for a number of years now. I like using it because it is quick and the gauge has been accurate. It screws onto the valve stem and then you unscrew the valve core and move the slide to let air out. It is a little cumbersome for the first few uses but it gets easier to use as you go.

Here you can see the ARB E-Z Deflator letting air out of the tire

When you come to the end of the day, you will need to air your tires back up to street pressure before hitting the highway. There are a lot of different methods to air a tire up and since we have relatively small tires, any of the methods work great! I have a Milwuakee cordless air compressor that I use and it works really well; you enter the tire pressure you want and then hit start, it will turn off automatically when that pressure is reached so you can socialize freely. There are also 12 volt options that you clip onto your battery and air up that way, the 12 volt compressors that plug into the cigarette lighter work in a pinch but are not up to airing up all 4 tires. The last option is a bike pump. These actually work pretty well but you will need some endurance as it took 55 pumps per tire to get our 215/75-15s to street pressure from 15psi.

Airing up with the Milwaukee cordless air compressor is a snapHere is a great example of a compressor that clips to your battery, this system is pretty quick!Small downside to this style compressor is you have to stand at the tire you are filling, a fast compressor makes this task easier

So you have your RalliTEK lift and you installed a good set of All-Terrain tires on your Subaru and set out for your first off-road adventure. The car is doing great handling everything that you throw at it but you soon find the limit and wind up stuck. While you are digging yourself out, you keep thinking that there has to be a better way to get unstuck so you start researching when you get home and you come across winches. Many questions immediately enter your head, “which manufacturer do I select?”, “what size winch do I need?”, “once I do get my winch, how do I mount it to my Subaru?”

Just like with tires, there are a lot of brands of winches on the market so choosing which one to go with can be somewhat confusing. Price point is typically the number one deciding factor on which brand to choose but if you can afford a premium brand winch; WARN, Come-Up, etc., you really can’t go wrong. After price point, you will start looking at things like available winch capacity, warranty terms and even customer service reviews. Extensive testing procedures and component quality will increase the price of the winch but also remember that you get what you pay for.

You selected the brand you want to buy and you start looking at their product line and notice that there are winches for Jeeps and trucks and then winches for ATVs and UTVs, how do you select which style to go with? To properly size a winch for your Subaru, there is a simple calculation that you can do to determine the capacity that you will need; VEHICLE WEIGHT X 1.5 = WINCH CAPACITY. For a real world example, the RalliTEK Outback weighs right around 4,000 pounds. 4,000lb X 1.5 = 6,000lb meaning you will typically want to find a winch that is at least 6,000 pounds. That formula was developed to provide a winch heavy enough to recover the vehicle at the highest extreme without stalling the winch motor or applying unneeded stress to the internal components. In some cases, you can bend the rule a little bit but you don’t want to choose a winch with too little capacity.

The RalliTEK Outback is fitted with a WARN ProVantage 4500-SSD which translates to a 4,500 pound winch with synthetic rope and a shorter drum width than the standard ProVantage 4500. If you remember from the earlier calculation, you will notice that we are 1,500 pounds shy of the winch we should have installed. While this is true, we picked that winch because its small size made it easy to mount behind the factory bumper and knowing that we will rarely get the car stuck enough to need the 6,000 pound capacity. If we ever get the car stuck to the point of needing a larger capacity winch, we will use a snatch block and run the winch line back to the tow hook under the car. A snatch block is a pulley that is used at the winch anchor that doubles the capacity that the winch can pull essentially making it a 9,000 pound winch. The Subaru drivetrain also limits wheel spin so likely you will never find yourself needing the full 6,000 pound capacity winch that we calculated earlier.

I hope you found this blog informative but if you happen to have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us by either email or phone!

Hey everyone, Scott from RalliTEK here again. We have been getting a lot of questions about what tire size one can run on their lifted Subaru lately so I compiled a list of verified tire sizes on different cars in the RalliTEK shop. I have 2 different columns, one is the standard size that we will tell anyone that they can run and then the other column is for an aggressive fitment. The aggressive fitment column usually comes with the potential for minor trimming, cutting/flattening of a pinch weld, not being able to run front mud flaps or at the very least, using a heat gun to melt the inner fender out of the way of the tire. Also be sure to notice that some of the tire sizes have an asterisk by them, this is because a 15” wheel is needed and may not clear the brakes on your car. This list was created using either the 1.5” or 2” RalliTEK lift kit and Method wheels.

CAR

STANDARD FITMENT

DIAMETER

AGGRESSIVE FITMENT

DIAMETER

13-17 CROSSTREK

215/75-15

27.7″

235/75-15

28.9″

18+ CROSSTREK

215/75-15

27.7″

235/75-15

28.9″

1998-2002 FORESTER

215/75-15

27.7″

235/75-15

28.9″

2003-2008 FORESTER

215/75-15

27.7″

235/75-15

28.9″

2009-2013 FORESTER

215/75-15

27.7″

235/75-15

28.9″

2014-2018 FORESTER

235/75-15*

28.9″

245/65-17

29.5″

2019+ FORESTER

255/55-18

225/65-17

29″

28.5″

245/65-17

29.5″

1997-1999 OUTBACK

215/75-15

27.7″

235/75-15

28.9″

2000-2004 OUTBACK

215/75-15

27.7″

235/75-15

28.9″

2005-2009 OUTBACK

215/75-15

27.7″

235/75-15

28.9″

2010-2014 OUTBACK

225/65-17

28.5″

235/75-15*

28.9″

2015-2018 OUTBACK

245/65-17

29.5″

245/70-17

30.5″

2008+ IMPREZA

215/70-15 215/65-16

27″

215/75-15

27.7″

* Denotes 4 cylinder non-turbo only

Still think you need some help? Shoot us a message or give us a call! 503-619-0055